Marco Deschênes: The Fire on René Lévesque Boulevard

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Marco Deschênes, a captain in the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

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On June 3 at 3:17 p.m., around that time, we got a call about a fire, a fire alarm… there was a… balcony that was on fire. As we left the fire hall, we could already see the plume of smoke. What made the response complicated was the high winds at the time. That meant the fire was spread by radiation and falling objects, which there were quite a lot of. When we started our operation, I also checked, at the command station, to make sure the homes at the back were not affected. But the siding on the adjacent houses was starting to melt. So, we had to work in parallel… operations on René Lévesque Street and Cardinal Street, which was the street behind it, to protect the buildings behind 975 René Lévesque. After the operation, when it was a bit more… you get a bit emotional when you have to hand the building back over… to the residents, the citizens… and you go in front of the house, the street address, and all that’s left is the foundation. That’s it. There was no building left there at all. I can tell you, that… that’s pretty hard, but it’s part of the job.